Weekend Box-Office: ‘Immortals’ Takes #1 Convincingly, Best ‘Jack and Jill’ and ‘Puss in Boots’
By
Brad Brevet
I would say for Immortals to have nabbed the #1 spot this weekend so convincingly is a bit of a surprise, and for me a welcome one the weekend really could have gone to any of the top three films, but somehow Immortals pulled away. Let’s take a closer look…
Laremy predicted the #1 movie correctly 0 Weeks In A Row
I enjoyed Immortals but when I look at the 37% RottenTomatoes rating I guess I can understand why Relativity tried to hide it from the majority of critics. Budgeted at $75 million and suffering from a series of box-office busts in Machine Gun Preacher, Shark Night 3D and Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer, Relativity needed a hit and they didn’t want critics dragging their film down.
Well, most critics did try and drag their film down, but it didn’t seem to have much of an effect as Tarsem Singh’s war of the Gods takes home #1 with a $32 million weekend domestically and another $36 million overseas. For a film that was tracking around $25 million, that’s quite impressive. Word of mouth may end up good as well as it managed a B CinemaScore from audiences.
Unfortunately for Laremy, his predictions for the top three were a bit off, but looking over reader predictions from Thursday, no one else did much better with “chriscarmichael” being the only one to predict Immortals would win with a $25.9 million prediction. There was even a prediction as low as $8 million… Glad that didn’t come true.
Weekend: $32 million RottenTomatoes Score:37% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #2 and his prediction of $23.1 million was $8.9m off for a percentage error of 27.81%.
Many thought Jack and Jill would swoop in to win the weekend and Brian’s $25.9 million prediction was the closest on the board. Laremy obviously didn’t have much faith in it, but here’s where things get interesting.
No Adam Sandler film has opened to less than $27.4 million and gone on to end its theatrical run with more than $100 million. Will Jack and Jill set a new Sandler standard? It did earn B CinemaScores from audiences as well, but the 3% RottenTomatoes rating is the lowest for a film Sandler has starred in ever.
Weekend: $26 million / RottenTomatoes:3% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #3 with $18.4 million, which is $7.6m off for a 29.23% error.
From a mere 3% drop to a tiny 22.7% drop, Puss in Boots may be in third but it’s still holding strong as it crossed the $100 million mark this weekend.
Weekend: $25.5 million (-22.7% drop) / Cume: $108.8 million / RottenTomatoes:82% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #1 with $23.14 million, which is $2.36m off for a 9.25% error.
Talking about anything Brett Ratner or Eddie Murphy related is exhausting at this point and Tower Heist is hardly a film worth discussing beyond it’s opening weekend so I will move along.
Weekend: $13.2 million (-45% drop) / Cume: $43.9 million / RottenTomatoes:69% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #4 with $13.7 million, which is $0.5m off for a 3.79% error.
I can’t imagine J. Edgar is going to stick around for too long considering the critics largely dismissed it and there isn’t much of a buzz in the air. When will Clint Eastwood go back to being the director we know and want him to be and stop with the rush job features?
Weekend: $11.4 million / Cume: $11.5 million / RottenTomatoes:41% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #5 with $12.35 million, which is $0.95m off for a 8.33% error.
It’s already made more than the first film, but is still $15 million behind the second film and that’s with those inflated 3D ticket prices. Not a good sign if you were hoping for a Harold and Kumar 4. But then again, the budget was only $19 million so depending on DVD and Blu-ray sales you never know what could happen. There is also an animated version in the works.
Weekend: $5.9 million (-54.3% drop) / Cume: $23.2 million / RottenTomatoes:74% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #6 with $5.7 million, which is $0.2m off for a 3.39% error.
It’s only week three and In Time has already lost 536 theaters. I didn’t like this film, but it’s clear there are just too many movies released each week for most movies to have much of a chance if they don’t open huge.
Weekend: $4.1 million (-44.6% drop) / Cume: $30.6 million / RottenTomatoes:38% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #7 with $4.34 million, which is $0.24m off for a 5.85% error.
Paranormal Activity 3 crossed $100 million this weekend and is no $7 million shy of the second film. Made on a $5 million budget I have to assume we are only weeks away from hearing of a Paranormal Activity 4 and its October 20, 2012 release date.
Weekend: $3.6 million (-56.6% drop) / Cume: $100.8 million / RottenTomatoes:66% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #8 with $4.33 million, which is $0.73m off for a 20.28% error.
Still cutting loose and I still have nothing to say.
Weekend: $2.7 million (-38.6% drop) / Cume: $48.8 million / RottenTomatoes:71% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #9 with $2.58 million, which is $0.12m off for a 4.44% error.
$208.9 million worldwide and still looking forward to DVD and Blu-ray sales. Not too shabby, but that supposed $110 million production budget still looms large.
Weekend: $2 million (-41.2% drop) / Cume: $81.7 million / RottenTomatoes:59% Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #10 with $2.03 million, which is $0.03m off for a 1.5% error.
In limited action Werner Herzog’s death row documentary Into the Abyss opened in 12 theaters and brought in $50,800 while Brazil’s Foreign language Oscar submission, Elite Squad: The Enemy Within opened in one theater and brought home $9,500. I’m seeing Elite Squad this coming week and really looking forward to it as buzz has been great.
As for next weekend we all know The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 is going to take home the #1 spot, but do you care to wager an early guess on how much it will make? If you would like a little help, both Twilight and The Twilight Saga: New Moon opened in November, the first bringing in $69.6 million and the second bringing in $142.8 million. Eclipse was a June opener and only managed $64 million last year.
Next weekend’s other new release is Happy Feet Two, which should also enjoy a big opening weekend considering it’s following it’s Oscar-winning predecessor which opened to $41.5 in 2006.
Weigh in on this weekend and next below.
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